As another Labor Day signals the unofficial end to the summer and, this year, the unofficial beginning to the November election season, we want to remind our readers of all the wonderful things that private-sector labor unions have brought about for ALL workers in this country, including:

The minimum wage;

The 8-hour work day;

Overtime pay;

Holiday pay;

The 40-hour work week/work-free weekends;

Social Security;

Paid (and unpaid) sick leave;

Paid vacations;

Paid work breaks, including lunch;

Child labor laws;

Pensions, including 401(k)s;

Unemployment insurance;

Workplace safety;

Employee and family health insurance;

Collective bargaining rights;

Anti-discrimination laws; and

Whistleblower protection laws.

Not surprisingly, NONE of the foregoing was brought about by public-sector unions – those late-blooming organizations that have colluded and conspired with crooked Illinois politicians (redundancy intended) to give us:

Automatic, non-merit based raises unrelated to performance;

Underfunded constitutionally-guaranteed defined-benefit pensions;

Every holiday off;

185-day work years (for, e.g., D-64 teachers);

No accountability for under-performance or outright failure; and

Virtual impossibility of being significantly disciplined or fired.

When it comes to the private sector, labor and capital have been able to strike an uneasy – albeit not always equal – balance of supply and demand, increasingly distorted by the unfair competitive effects of globalization.

In the public sector here in Illinois, however, unionized labor has come to dominate capital (i.e., tax dollars) specifically because of public-sector labor’s unique immunity to both the laws of supply and demand and the unfair competition of globalization.

So as we have done in the past, we praise the private-sector trade unionism that created a middle class and gave us the highest standard of living in the world. And we caution against public-sector faux-unionism that, in approximately 30 years of collusion with our corrupt Democratic politicians and their RINO co-conspirators, has driven Illinois to the economic and social bottom of the 50 states of the Union.

And we encourage our fellow citizens to not go gently into that dark night our corrupt politicians and their co-conspirators have created; and from which they have prospered.

I finally realize the distinction you make between private sector and public sector unions, and I agree.

By Anonymous on 09.06.16 5:48 am

Good point about lack of competition for public-sector unions, other than outsourcing.

People have to start seriously thinking about this rather than just blindly accept the talking points thrown out by our public officials, most of whom are Democrats (in Illinois).

EDITOR’S NOTE: But thinking is hard, and sound-bites generated by paid political propagandists are so easy.

By Anonymous on 09.06.16 6:45 am

Very well written, Bob. Factual, as always. If we could get public sector unions to focus on the same kind of activism that private sector unions spent their energy on, we might really see some benefits from those unions. But with their focus on “what’s good for me” and their deep devotion to politicians who are willing to trade their vote for public sector union support, they aren’t delivering the same benefits for society that we saw with private sector unions – we’re just getting screwed.